


Art Appreciation

by VespidaeQueen



Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: College AU, F/M, art students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VespidaeQueen/pseuds/VespidaeQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He has the best art in the entire art department, and Janet van Dyne is determined to meet him. College AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Art Appreciation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tafka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tafka/gifts).



> Written for the prompt "College AU with Jan and Steve"

Jan returns to her and her best friend’s campus apartment in a flurry of excitement and generally enthusiasm. Said best friend is engaged in a rather energetic makeout session on the couch.

This is not unexpected. Wanda and her boyfriend are the “dramatically makeout all the time” sort of couple, though Vision - who has tried to get everyone to call him  _Victor_ instead, but hasn’t succeeded so far - still turns remarkably red whenever the two of them get walked in on.

Jan is used to it. The blushing  _and_  the walking in on makeout sessions.

“ _Wanda_!” she says as she bounces into the apartment. Vision falls off the couch in his haste to  _not_  be making out in front of his girlfriend’s roommate. “New art class. Is.  _Amazing_.”

Wanda gives her a long suffering look, running a hand through her hair to try to tame it. “That’s really wonderful, Jan. Please knock next time?”

"It would be much appreciated," Vision says, face still very flushed.

"I  _did_  knock,” Jan tells them. And she did. “But oh,  _Wanda_ , there’s this  _guy_  -“

"I think I will be leaving now," Vision says, pushing himself up off the floor. "I will see you tomorrow?"

Wanda smiles at him. “Of course.”

He fairly scuttles out of the room, and Jan bounds over the couch and perches on the arm of it.

“ _So,_  there a guy,” Wanda prompts, and Jan nods. “I assume there was art as well?”

"Well,  _yes_. I’ve got a cubicle to paint in, which is a bit small, and we won’t get our setups for  _ages_ , and, as you know, I don’t actually  _need_  this class for my degree, but I think taking an oil painting class would be just  _fantastic._ But.  _But_. Oh, Wanda, his  _art_.”

Wanda raises an eyebrow. “Wait. Did you say  _art_  or  _butt?_  Because I don’t think I’ve heard you going on about a boy’s art like this before.”

Jan gives her a  _look_  that rather says  _ha ha, funny, I’m so amused._  “His  _art_. I haven’t seen his butt, but if it’s half as good as his art then it will be  _fantastic_. I haven’t actually met him yet - but he’s got all these pieces up in his corner of the art studio, and he’s just got this great technique and his designs are great and -” She stops. Takes a breath. “Anyway. I just. I like his art.”

Wanda nods slowly. “That is a…good reason? I suppose?”

"I’m hoping I’ll get to meet him at some point. You know, if our painting schedules cross? Because I just…" Jan shrugs. "It’s good art."

**

She doesn’t actually meet him for a few weeks. He’s the sort of reclusive, quiet art student that everyone knows about, but not that many people have actually talked to. She knows his name is  _Steve_  and she knows that he’s the darling of the art department. She knows that he’s got a whole array of paintings and charcoal sketches in his art cubicle, ranging from the highly stylized to the very realistic.

Jan will admit that she stares at his art. A lot.

Jan is a fashion major. Design, of course, and technically she doesn’t need to be doing this art course; she has her own complement of courses that take up much of her time, but she adores the artistic component of her chosen field and so she had decided early on that she would take at least a few art courses outside of what she needed to graduate.

And she is very glad that she did, because -

Well -

 _Well._  Boys. And art.

She meets Steve on her way out from a painting session; she’s just leaving the studio when he comes in, and they run into each other in the doorway. Literally, in fact, though not a head-on collision. Their shoulders knock - or rather, her shoulder collides with his arm, because he’s a good foot or so taller than her - and then they both spin awkwardly out of each other’s way.

"I’m sorry, miss. Um." He’s tall and blond and looks terribly embarrassed to have bumped into her.

He is also  _very_  good looking.

"Oh, it’s okay!" Jan chirps, smiling at him. There is another awkward moment, in which he doesn’t say anything and they just look at each other, and then they each go their separate ways.

Or, at least, Jan gets five feet out into the hall and then backtracks into the art studio. She pokes her head around the door and  _oh_ , he’s going to  _that_  art cubicle.

It takes her all of two seconds to make a decision, and she walks over to where he’s starting to pull paints out of his supply cabinet.

"So," she says, and he looks up, blinking as though he’s surprised to see her there. "You’re Steve."

He sets his paints down. “I am. I guess you, uh, heard about me. Seems like everyone in the art department has.” Twin spots of color rise on his cheeks. “You have me at a disadvantage, though, knowing who I am when I don’t know you.”

"Aw, you mean you  _haven’t_  heard of me?” It is a joke.

"I -  _should_  I have?” He looks almost like he’s inwardly panicking about not knowing, but trying to hide it. 

"No, probably not. I’m Jan. I’ve got the art cubicle two rows over."

"Dugan’s old cubicle? It’s - it’s the only one that was open, so I’d assume that’s it." He pulls a few more things out of his supply cabinet - brushes and the little glass jar half full of turpentine to clean them in between colors.

"Guess so." Jan smiles at him again, her eyes then falling to his supplies. "Well, I won’t keep you from painting! It was good to finally meet you, Steve."

"You too," he says. "To meet you, I mean." He smiles at her then, and it’s a very genuine smile and it makes her heart jump.

*

She sees him in the art studio after that, and they say hi. She’ll occasionally stop at his cubicle to talk with him, and sometimes, when they’re both in the studio, she catches him looking at her.

One month after they meet, he asks if he can draw her. She says yes.

It’s not exactly a date, but it makes her smile.

*

Okay.

It’s totally a date.

*

When Wanda asks her about why she’s smiling so much later on, she just says “art!” and ignores as her best friend shakes her head.


End file.
